Bob is stuck overnight in a outdoor supply store on its last day of business, and must rely on an overly-friendly salesman for help. Meanwhile, Linda and the kids suffer through Gayle's autobiographical one-woman show, only for it to get derailed by a disagreement over one of the plot points.
Into the Tropes:
- Big "NO!": Bob has one when he realizes he slept through the sale.
- Can't Take Criticism: Gayle outright admits as much when telling the Belchers to give feedback on her play.
- Cell Phones Are Useless: Bob's old flip phone keeps losing its charge, so it goes dead when he's stranded inside the store and can't call for help.
- Dénouement Episode: Could be considered this to Season 7. While the previous episode was larger-scale, featured numerous supporting characters, and featured one of the Belchers undergoing Character Development (all the hallmarks of a usual season finale), this episode is much smaller in scale and primarily just serves to wrap up the season.
- Finger Gun: Gayle's play includes an incident in which Delta Burke winked and made finger guns at her. Linda and Gayle later do this to each other after their disagreement gets heated.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Bob and Austin become this in the end, though he's embarrassed to admit it to his family.
- Foreshadowing: Bob mentions the lacking battery of his phone as soon as the episode begins. When he falls asleep in the store, the cellphone battery has ended by the time he wakes up.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: Bob and Austin set off the alarm (which Austin had turned off in the first place) so they can be rescued, but the guards decide that it's a false alarm when they find no sign of forced entry and disable the security system. Austin comments that they're not that good at their job.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Austin claims that he's familiar with all the equipment in the store, but when he ends up dangling upside down trying to climb up to the skylight, he confesses that he only demoed the equipment and has never used it in a real life situation.
- Locked in a Room: To evade the pushy salesman Austin, Bob hides inside a tent and ends up falling asleep. When he wakes up he finds himself locked inside the store... along with Austin, who was staying inside to practice for a camping trip. And the store will stay closed for six days.
- Mistaken for Cheating: When Bob calls to tell Gene that he's avoiding Austin, Gene assumes he's having an affair and demands to know who it's with.
- Nice Guy: He's a bit over-enthusiastic, but Austin's a genuinely neat guy.
- Only One Finds It Fun: Linda is the only one excited about Gayle's play. The kids (especially Louise and Gene) beg Bob to take them to the camping store the instant they so much as learn about it.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: It's a reference to Into the Wild.
- The Reveal: Delta Burke didn't wink at either Linda or Gayle—rather, Delta Burke wasn't there at all.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Linda and Gayle argue over who Delta Burke winked at when they were younger. The point is rendered moot when a third person, their friend Stacey, confirms that it wasn't Delta Burke at all—it was a one-legged Italian woman, whereas the real Delta Burke was filming a movie over in California.
- Shout-Out:
- The Store Next Door is titled Welcome Back Potter.
- When Louise mentions that there was a third witness at the Delta Burke encounter, Gene thinks she means the Amish boy from Witness.
- Austin mentions Cliffhanger and Vertical Limit when trying to talk Bob into rock climbing.
- Stylistic Suck: Gayle's play should probably never see the light of day.
- Thoroughly Mistaken Identity: Linda and Gayle somehow mistook a one-legged Italian woman for Delta Burke.
- Two Decades Behind: Yet again, we see Bob is quite behind the times technology wise. Including his gigantic old laptop, and flip-phone older than Gene.
- We Used to Be Friends: The kids suggest Linda and Gayle call their old friend Stacey to confirm who Delta Burke winked at. Stacey bluntly informs everyone "Delta Burke" was a one-legged Italian woman, and then reveals Linda and Gayle spent the entire trip arguing with each other about this until it was over and Stacey firmly decided she never wanted to see or hear from either of them again.
- Would Rather Suffer: The kids initially dismiss the idea of Bob going the outdoor supply store, but the instant they learn that Linda wants them to see Gayle's play all three of them beg Bob to take them with him.
